Rob Flaherty, Vice President Kamala Harris' deputy campaign manager, said in an interview that the Democratic Party is “losing its culture” as more Americans turn to podcasts.
“Campaigns are, in many ways, last-mile marketers that exist on a terrain defined by culture, and the institutions that Democrats have historically had the ability to influence culture have no relevance,” he said in an interview. “We are losing our lives,” he said. with semaphore. “We cannot achieve an 8-point shift to the right nationally without losing our culture.”
Both Harris and President-elect Donald Trump have sought to engage in podcasts and conversations with nontraditional media ahead of the 2024 election. Flaherty told Semaphore during an interview that he had a hard time booking Harris on his sports podcast.
“Sports and culture have kind of merged, and as sports and culture have become more publicly associated and natively associated with conservative values like President Trump, “It's become more complicated to express support,” Flaherty said. “It became even more complicated for sports personalities to have us on their shows because they didn’t want to ‘play politics.’”
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris watches the event monitor from backstage just before taking the stage at her final campaign rally on Monday, November 4, 2024 in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
Kamala Harris' campaign aide offers to sit down with Joe Rogan to chastise Trump for not appearing on podcast
Flaherty argued that sports culture is tied to right-wing culture, making it difficult for their movements to reach people.
“I'm not talking about Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr and LeBron.” [James] “None of the things that went public had any impact or significance,” Flaherty said, adding, “It became more impactful because the situation became so difficult.” However, it is true that the culture that has traditionally been associated with intense sports viewing has become associated with right-wing culture, making it difficult to reach people. ”
Harris' campaign aides who have been vocal about her failure to run for president have complained to the media and placed some of the blame on the questions asked of her.
“Real people somehow heard that we weren't going to be interviewed, and that's a problem because that's not true and it's also very contrary to any kind of standards held for Trump. “I think so,” Jen O said. Marie Dillon said during a discussion on Pod Save America.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) at the Swiss Hotel in Chicago on June 24, 2022. (Kamil Krzazinski/AFP via Getty Images)
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She also claimed that when Harris gave interviews, her questions were “small and procedural” and did not “provide information” to voters.
Flaherty also spoke about Harris' avoidance of traditional media outlets, although Harris did have several interviews with CNN, MSNBC and FOX News before the election.
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“As for my colleagues in the mainstream news media, there is no value in speaking to the New York Times or the Washington Post during a general election. [readers] They’re already with us,” Flaherty said.
